Friday, December 9, 2011

5 grenades “grenading” and a partridge in a pear tree! Not one, but 5 inert grenades were discovered in a passenger’s checked luggage at Newark (EWR). Read here and here why even inert grenades at the airport are a problem even though they can’t explode. In a somewhat related incident at LAX, an expended smoke grenade was found in a passenger’s carry-on bag.

I’m sure you’ve heard the “What’s In Your Wallet” commercials…Well, a frustrated passenger at Boston (BOS) stated he had a bomb in his wallet. The police ended up citing the passenger, so while there was no actual bomb in his wallet, there is now less cash…

Unfortunately these sorts of occurrences are all too frequent which is why we talk about these finds. Sure, it’s great to share the things that our officers are finding, but at the same time, each time we find a dangerous item, the throughput is slowed down and a passenger that likely had no ill intent ends up with a citation or in some cases is even arrested. This is a friendly reminder to please leave these items at home.

Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that's for the law enforcement officer to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items in their bag. That’s why it’s important to double check your luggage before you get to the airport.

On the other hand, there are artfully concealed items... Artfully concealed means that the prohibited item was intentionally concealed with the intention of sneaking it through security:

Sword Cane (COS)

A 20” sword cane was discovered during X-ray screening at Colorado Springs (COS). The passenger said the cane was purchased for him by a relative and he wasn’t aware of the sword.

One could say a passenger was “foiled” after his knife was found in his carry-on bag inside a box wrapped in tinfoil at Columbus (CMH). The passenger actually admitted he was trying to conceal it from us.

Aluminum foil may protect you from aliens and mind rays, but it’s not going to hide anything from us in the X-ray.

Foiled Knife (DEN)

We’re looking for dangerous items and not booze, but miniature bottles of liquor were discovered in a passenger’s socks during screening with the body scanner at Denver (DEN). Hint – most miniature bottles of liquor are under 3.4 oz. and can be brought in your carry-on baggage as long as it’s in a baggy. No need to smuggle them…

Belt Buckle knife at Newark (EWR). It's a belt buckle. It's a knife. It's a belt buckle, it's a knife. and so on...

It's a knife. It's a Belt Buckle. (EWR)

Our officers found25loaded firearms and 4 unloaded firearms in carry-on baggage since I posted last Friday. Here’s a rundown of the 29 firearms our officers kept off of airplanes this week:

We also look for explosives and bomb components as well, but thankfully those are extremely rare and we're happy to keep it that way.

Including checkpoint and checked baggage screening, TSA has 20 layers of security both visible and invisible to the public. Each one of these layers alone is capable of stopping a terrorist attack. In combination their security value is multiplied, creating a much stronger, formidable system. A terrorist who has to overcome multiple security layers in order to carry out an attack is more likely to be pre-empted, deterred, or to fail during the attempt.

If you’d like to comment on an unrelated topic you can do so in ourOff Topic Comments post. You can also view our blog postarchives orsearch our blog to find a related topic to comment in. If you have a travel related issue or question that needs an immediate answer, you can contact a Customer Support Manager at the airport you traveled, or will be traveling through by usingTalk to TSA.

23 comments:

Anonymous
said...

Again, Curtis, why your recent infatuation in hyping routine detections of items carried by people who intended no harm to any aircraft? And why have you once again neglected to mention that none of the genuinely "dangerous" items were found through anything but your most passive, non-invasive screening techniques?

Quoted:"On the other hand, there are artfully concealed items... Artfully concealed means that the prohibited item was intentionally concealed with the intention of sneaking it through security: "

And yet most if not all of these passengers were allowed to fly.It just doesn't make sense Bob.

Quoted:"Nadav said... Hopefully people will understand that saying they have bombs stops the lines because TSOs are trained to have no humor at all.

Nadav

December 10, 2011 2:13 AM"

Seriously?!?!?You really believe it's ok for someone to say they have a bomb and joke about it?Wow! Please come and try that at my checkpoint.How about going up to a cop on the street and saying "I have a gun". I mean after all, they do have a sense of humor, correct?

"Hopefully people will understand that saying they have bombs stops the lines because TSOs are trained to have no humor at all."

No. The fact that screening clerks are trained to do something doesn't mean anything. The screening clerks at JFK are trained to know what a NEXUS card is, but they don't. Whether they just didn't pay attention during the training, or are too lazy to brush up on the training, I don't know.

Not only inert grenades but you also found legal prescription medications and detained a traveller over that. Thank you for saving so many lives and detaining someone traveling with their prescription medications!

Um.... so? Okay, you found grenades with no explosives in them. They are about as dangerous as my underwear. I remember my brother mailing me an empty grenade one time when he was in the navy. I was 8. I thought it was very cool. No harm done. Now, I can understand freaking out about this if it were carry on as this could be used to scare other passengers... but it was checked. So.... what's the big deal? And sorry, but at this point I think you make up stuff like this just to make us think you are doing something. I may be wrong, but the TSA goofs up so much I can't help but think any stories like this are wagging the dog.

The verb that is associated with grenades is "exploding," not "grenading." Except these grenades were incapable of exploding. Which means that this is completely inconsequential. And I'd appreciate being treated as a human being, not as "throughput."

Again I am amazed at the hord of things you find and yes I guess some is unintentional but those concealing weapons quite scary!I still don't get why people think its ok to take a weapon on board a plane and why some don't know they have them in their bag!!!!!

Bob,it's unbelievable, that people are so silly to take these things into airport controls... I bet the empty grandes could be used to scare the heck out of people on an airplane and take control over it, even althoug it's a bluff. The cane and the knives are without comment. It's bad to know these kind of psychos are on the road, but good to know someone checks and disarms them.

“Why would you think a "grande" could be used to take over an airplane? Do you think an aircrew is going to allow ANYONE to take over control?

As a former airline pilot - one who was airborne the morning of 9/11 - I can assure you that NO aircrew will "allow" hijackers to take over an airplane.”

An inert grenade is as dangerous as an unloaded gun, flash either to a cop and your likely to get shot, show them to a group of unarmed people and you have their undivided attention. Also, I would bet money that more people are afraid of a grenade than a box cutter, and look where those got the terrorists on 9/11. The TSO’s have a tough job dealing with all of the self entitled people out there who seem to think that flying on an airplane is a constitutional right; it’s a choice.